It's a serious business............ bonds are far 'safer' and less volatile than shares, but in this crazy market bonds have been acting more like shares - there is NOTHING totally risk free, but there are some amazing bargains going - in the 1930s 10% of bonds 'defaulted' (i.e. they didn't pay up - I reckon if 20% default this time I'll still make a bundle...... deo volenti - that's Latin for 'Awful Mercurialness willing'!).
Many good bonds have been traded at a huge discount NOT because they are crap but because they are 'distressed' because the bond holders have had to sell to meet liabilities 'elsewhere'.
I bought some bonds for 15.5% of their face value on Friday, 13th March 2009 - if I sold them now I'd get 36% of their face value which is totally crazy.... but that bond is a 'perpetual' and will give me a good income for life so no way will I sell any of them!
I hope to buy 5,000 euros face value of a bond that pays 8.16% and matures on 23rd March 2010 - i.e. you get back the full face value. in this case 5,000 euros.
The bond is 8.16 Standard Chartered 2011 EUR and the bid price today was 63 cents to the euro (that's the price I'd get if I were selling).... I will pay a maximum of 70 (the offer price) which will cost me 3,500 euros.
The total cost will include one month accrued interest of 34 euros plus 1% commission - so I should pay out a maximum of 3,500 + 34 + 35 and get back 408 euros interest plus 5,000 on 23rd March 2010 - you can work out the return over 11 months (hint: it's over 50%!)
Had a date this past Saturday night - we went to see the Moscow Ballet Company... it was the first time either of us had been to the ballet but it was fun!
The Russian producer had sent my mum a complimentary ticket and I had booked an ambulance to take her but she decided the day before that she wasn't up to it....... but we took two guests - a retired English headmaster and a lady with dual Swiss/British nationality whose father fought in the Boer War in South Africa (he was 72 years old when his daughter was born and she is now 69 but looks about 50!)...........
I DO like debate............ and I DO like people who have different views and are capable of expressing them lucidly - a woman with a keen mind I can respect even if I disagree with her..... heck I could even LOVE a woman who disagreed with me!
There is no need for false modesty when there is real love - I'd hate for her to love me if I was the hopeless person I once was.......... she's a FANTASTIC person and I am very lucky to have met her... but it works both ways, and I make her happy too!
I have to say I was quite scared, but refused to panic - it's been very hard work to recover from a very frightening financial blow............ and my heart goes out to those who feel that their lives have 'ended' because of the greed of other people.
It's always a pleasure to give a compliment in the knowledge that YOU know I'm taken and therefore the compliment is sincere and not artificial flattery!
Agter my father died in August last year I lost over £1,000 (way over $1,000) EVERY DAY for well over 100 days - then I decided to do something about it - and I did.....and have since more than made up the loss!
Mine was after drinking two bottles of homemade wine and then stripping off in a gale force wind and diving 70 feet into a boiling sea - I knew where the rocks were so I wasn't scared, but 'she' was; and afterwards we had a wonderful time........... that was in 1988 -
rusty_knight Forum Posts (6,840)
RE: Tell About Your Best Dates
We had the best seats.I peered up young Russian lady ballerina's legs all night.....I didn't fall asleep - not once!